He was about to enter the Stark Tower when he heard it, the slightly-too-high voice of a way too excited young man. "Mister Stark! Mister Stark, there you are! I have been waiting all morning for you!"

Peter Parker stumbled towards him, his backpack hanging loosely down his shoulder. Tony watched him approach, deep in thought. "All morning? Weren't you in school?" He couldn't believe that. Peter was an excellent student.

The teenager came to a halt in front of him (almost having crushed into him actually) and cocked his head to the side. "It's... saturday, Mister Stark. You offered to help me with my physics project, remember?"

Then, Tony remembered. "Oh, I did promise you that, didn't I?" He checked his non-existent clock. "And we were supposed to meet at-"

"8:00 a.m, yes." Peter pouted, making himself look younger than he actually was. "And now it's 11:00 a.m." He threw an accusing glance at him but Tony saw that it wasn't serious. The kid was way too forgiving, especially with him.

"I'm so sorry, Pete. I completely forgot about our meeting, to be honest." He held up the massive book for him to see. "I was busy with research."

The young man's' eyes grew big and he immediately reached for it. "That looks so old!" Tony was worried about handing the book to him for a second. It was quite heavy... then he remembered that Peter had superhuman strength.

"I guess it is. Come on, you've waited long enough. Let's go upstairs." He resumed his walk towards the Stark Tower, this time with Peter strolling after him. "Again, kid, I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's alright!", he told him happily. "I called May after you failed to show up and she picked me up. We got hot dogs! She brought me back here 30 minutes ago."

"Hotdogs for breakfast? Really?"

"They are really healthy actually."

"No, they're not."

Peter sighed. "Fine, they are not but they are tasty and May said I deserved a treat." As soon as they arrived at his lab he fumbled with his backpack until he managed to pull a crumpled piece paper out of it. "Look! I had the best math test in my whole class."

Tony barely managed to suppress the smile which so badly wanted to break out on his face. He, however, gave him a quick pat on the shoulder. "Nice job, kid." The thrilled smile on the boys face made his heart jump.

"Now, where did you put that old book? If I lose it I'm a dead man." He wasn't kidding. After Stephen's mood today he shouldn't piss him off more than necessary. Not even Wong could stop him. Well, brave of him to assume that Wong wouldn't actually join his friend. He was the one in charge of the library at Kamar-Taj.

Peter stared at him in question but pointed at one of the many packed work tables in the room. "There it is. You mean it isn't yours?"

"No, Pete. It's not. It belongs to Dumbledore. He will abra kadabra me if I damage it."

"It's avada kedavra."

"Sorry?" He looked at Peter who was mumbling to himself, head slightly turned away from him.

"It's avada kedavra.", he repeated. "That's how the killing curse is called but I think he would actually start with the cruciatus, to be honest. I mean that's what I'd do-"

"Pete, Harry Potter doesn't exist. You know that right?", Tony interrupted him. He shouldn't have started with this- what did Peter call it?- fandom talk? He always ended up confused after.

"But you just said that the book belongs-"

"It was a joke. It belongs to Stephen and Wong.", he explained while starting to clean up one of the tables. They had to work somewhere after all. He whipped around when he heard the loud groan.

"So, that's why you were gone all morning!", Peter exclaimed and let himself fall into the soft chair Tony had bought for him a while back. The kid had the unhealthy habit of falling asleep in his workshop and Tony wanted that he at least had some sort of cushion when he did so from now on.

"I should have known." He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. "How did it go?", he asked in a sly voice.

Tony crossed his arms in front of the chest. "What does that mean now?"

Peter let out a little disbelieving laugh. "I just- I mean it's no secret that you-" He gestured at him.

"That I what?"

"You're pining, Mister Stark.", the young man explained with a soft smile.

Tony bit the inside of his cheek. "I'm... what?" And just like that, Peter looked like a deer caught in headlights

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to imply anything, Sir. Please, don't make me leave. I don't wanna go!" Tony had to roll his eyes at the over-dramatic teenager. What was it with this generation?

"It's okay, kid. Seems like everyone knows at this point." He grimaced. "Or almost everyone...", he grumbled darkly. He could see Peter trying to work out in his mind what he meant by that.

As soon as he heard the soft gasp Tony knew that he had figured it out.

"You mean- he doesn't know?" The young man stared at him with big eyes. "How can't he know, Mister Stark!? You couldn't make it more obvious!" Tony agreed, he was on the edge of getting desperate with his advances.

Hell, who was he kidding? He was long gone.

Peter had gone uncharacteristically quiet, eyes out of focus and staring into the distance, head resting on one hand. Tony was surprised at how old it made him look, how mature. Sometimes it was really hard to keep in mind that he wasn't even 18.

"That might sound stupid now...", he hesitantly said after a while. Tony doubted it. "But why not, you know, just ask him out?" Peter leaned back in the chair, eyes clear now and sparkling with interest. "Like 'Hey, I really like you. Wanna get some coffee'?"

Tony rolled his eyes. Kids these days, they didn't understand. He was about to explain it to him but Spider Boy located a pair of his glasses on the table and excitedly reached for them, letting out a little yelp in the process.

"Wait! I can do it better!" Tony had to suppress the smile yet again while watching the young man with all his energy. "Heeeey,", he started again, this time with the glasses on. "I'm Iron Man, wanna get some coffee? I can buy the whole shop so it's as many free drinks for us as you want."

The genius sighed and sat down next to him. This wouldn't go away any time soon. He would just have to make the best of it.